Notes & Queries (1904)

Source:

States: "MORRIS DANCERS' PLANTATION. - There is
a spot marked with this name in the
Ordnance map of Nottinghamshire. It is on the
edge of Sherwood Forest, about a mile north
of Thoresby Hall. What was the origin of
this name? Can there have been a glade in
the wood where morris dancers were allowed
to practise their sword dancing? I can
recollect that more than forty years ago a
set of morris dancers used to come in the
springtime to Ecclesfield Vicarage, near
Sheffield, and perform intricate sword dances
on the lawn. They were dressed quite differently
from the morris dancers who came
at Christmas. They wore dark green suits,
with ribbons of the same colour hanging in
short streamers, and they were called
Sherwood Foresters. I believe their jackets and
short trousers were made of velveteen or
corduroy. They sang a song beginning:-

Bold Robin Hood
Was a forester good
As ever drew bow
In the merry green wood.

And there was a refrain to each stanza:

The wild deer we'll follow.

I should like to know whether any one else
remembers these Sherwood morris dancers.
Had they any connexion with the plantation
at Thoresby? HORATIA K. F. EDEN.